Corpsman Sentenced to Prison in Case of Iraqi Civilian Who Was Killed

By CAROLYN MARSHALL

Published: October 7, 2006

A Navy hospital corpsman who said he watched seven members of his Marine squad repeatedly shoot an unarmed Iraqi in the head and chest in April was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison, which was reduced to one year in a plea agreement..

The corpsman, Petty Officer Third Class Melson J. Bacos, 21, pleaded guilty to modified charges of conspiracy and kidnapping, but avoided the charge of murder and a possible death sentence by agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against members of his squad.

With time served, Petty Officer Bacos could be released in five months.

His testimony offered the first detailed public description of the April 26 incident in Hamdaniya, a Sunni stronghold west of Baghdad, where prosecutors say the eight soldiers joined in an unprovoked murder tantamount to a war crime.

The men, all members of Kilo Company in the Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, are accused of dragging Hashim Ibrahim Awad from his home, binding his hands and feet, gagging him and then shooting him at point-blank range; and later planting evidence and lying to cover up his death.

''I witnessed Sergeant Hutchins dead check the man and then fire three rounds into the man's head,'' Petty Officer Bacos said, speaking about his squad leader, Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, a focus of his testimony. After that, he said, Cpl. Trent D. Thomas, another squad member, fired 7 to 10 rounds into the man's chest.

Charges against Petty Officer Bacos were reduced as part of his plea bargain.

The petty officer said the plot to kill an Iraqi and cover it up was devised hours before the shooting as the men ''huddled'' in a palm grove near the crime scene. The unit had been on ambush duty, searching for Saleh Gowad, a man the government considered ''a known, high-value individual,'' he said. Mr. Gowad had been a detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison but was released, which was an apparent sore point for Sergeant Hutchins, the petty officer said.

''He was just mad that they kept letting him go when he was a known terrorist, sir,'' Petty Officer Bacos told the military judge, Col. Steven Folsom. ''He was detained and released three times, sir.''

The petty officer said Sergeant Hutchins and the other marines ''devised a plan'' to kill any Iraqi if Mr. Gowad could not be found. But he said that he was not part of the initial planning, and that when he first heard the proposal, he brushed it off.

''I didn't believe they would carry out a plan like that,'' he said.

He protested, he told the judge, saying that in his view, ''there was no justification.''

''It was unlawful, sir,'' he testified, but he eventually went along. ''I knew what we were doing was wrong,'' he said. ''I tried to say something, and then I decided to look away.''

He also said: ''I wanted to be part of the team. I wanted to be loyal.''

Court documents read into the record Friday recounted how the men stole a shovel and an AK-47 to plant near the body, and later shot rounds in the air to create bullet casings that would suggest a gunfight.

''I feel my honor is gone,'' Petty Officer Bacos said.

In a statement to the court, he apologized to the victim's family, as well as to his own, and to the Marines and the nation.

''Perhaps he could have had a crisis of conscience when he stole that shovel,'' said Nicholas Gannon, the prosecutor. ''He could have had a crisis of conscience when they approached Mr. Awad's house. But he did not.''

Photo: Petty Officer Third Class Melson J. Bacos, center, testified against members of his squad in a plea agreement that allowed him to avoid a charge of murder. He said he did not stop the killing because he was being loyal. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)